From the above picture taken in advance of the 2013 draft, only one — Nathan MacKinnon — now is playing with the NHL team that drafted him.

Seth Jones, who played some of his youth hockey in Denver, Wednesday was traded from Nashville to Columbus, for center Ryan Johansen. They both were No. 4 overall picks in the draft, Johansen in 2010 and then Jones. It also was a deal involving former Portland Winterhawks being swapped straight up.

Drouin, the No. 3 overall pick in 2013, and MacKinnon’s linemate with the Halifax Mooseheads, is with Syracuse of the American Hockey League after being sent down as it came out that he earlier had requested a trade from the Lightning.

I’m not one to get too excited or draw excessive inferences from the presence of scouts/executives from other teams at NHL games — the reasons often are “innocent” or even involve travel convenience — but Pat Verbeek, the assistant general manager of the Lightning, is at the Avalanche-Blues game as I type.

TAMPA — Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon and Tampa Bay’s Jonathan Drouin were linemates with the Memorial Cup champion Halifax Mooseheads of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, and ended up going first and third overall, respectively, in the 2013 NHL draft.

Tonight they’ll face each other as NHL opponents for the first time, and it comes after they had dinner together on Friday night to talk over old times — and new times, with Drouin now in his rookie year after the Lightning decided to leave him with the Mooseheads last season.

“We went to a sushi place,” MacKinnon said after the Avalanche morning skate in the recently renamed Amalie Arena. “I’m not sure what it was called, but it was good, though. . . I knew he was paying since we were in Tampa. I got him in Denver (where the Avs and Lightning meet Feb. 22). I’m sure he’ll rack it up when we get to Denver.”

MacKinnon said of the game, “He plays left (wing) and I play right, so I’m sure we’ll get a cool picture of us lined up for a faceoff together at some point in the game. It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be a cool memory … We talked a lot about playing against each other, playing with each other in the NHL, and we get to do that at the age of 19, so it’s happened very quick and pretty young, but we’re both very excited (for) tonight.”

“It’s going to be weird, a little bit,” Drouin said a little earlier, after the Lightning skate. “We’re good friends off the ice, but it should be a fun thing. I’m sure he’s not going to give me a lot of space out there and I want to do the same.” Read more…

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NHL draft prospects, from left, Jonathan Drouin, Seth Jones, and Nathan MacKinnon pose at a news conference in Mississauga, Ontario, on Thursday, May 30, a month before the NHL draft in New Jersey. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Michelle Siu)

Avalanche rookie Nathan MacKinnon, who, of course, was the No. 1 overall draft pick from the Halifax Mooseheads in June, was surprised to see former teammate Jonathan Drouin sent back to Halifax by the Tampa Bay Lightning, which selected him No. 3 overall.

“I thought he was ready, he’s a heckuva player,” MacKinnon told me after practice Tuesday. “Obviously they felt he needed another year. He’s definitely going to tear up junior. He’s won everything in junior. But he wants to make that next step. He has a lot of hockey ahead of him.”

I don’t think so. I think my story that posted tonight is what will happen next Sunday: the Avalanche will not be taking Seth Jones in the NHL draft. They will take either Nathan MacKinnon, Jonathan Drouin or Alexander Barkov.

I think, as of now, that MacKinnon is the favorite. But we’ll see what the next nine days bring.

A lot of of you have emailed or tweeted me tonight: maybe the Avs are just posturing? Maybe they’re trying to run some interference, that what they really want to do is take Jones, but want to let everyone think they’ll take a forward instead and therefore draw some bigger offer from another team that, say, really lusts after MacKinnon or one of the other two.

According to the CBC’s Elliotte Friedman, they did. On his Hotstove segment from Saturday’s Game 2 of the Cup Finals, Friedman said he’d heard — though he didn’t get it confirmed from either team — that the Flames offered their three first-round picks in this year’s draft (Nos. 6, 22 and 28) to the Avs for their first overall pick, and that the Avs said no.

Furthermore, the word I’m hearing — and have heard all along — is that there is no way the Avs will make a trade that takes them out of the top three selections in the draft. In other words, they are not leaving Newark on June 30 without either Seth Jones, Nathan MacKinnon or Jonathan Drouin in tow, wearing a jersey with a bright, burgundy A on it.

NHL draft prospects, from left, Jonathan Drouin, Seth Jones, and Nathan MacKinnon pose at a news conference in Mississauga, Ontario, on Thursday, May 30, a month before the NHL draft in New Jersey. (Michelle Siu, The Canadian Press via AP)

Today’s NHL draft story with Bob McKenzie and Mark Rycroft is here. The TSN/NHL Network and Altitude experts chimed in on the Avalanche’s big June 30 decision, which seemingly becomes more difficult the more you analyze it. It’s not like 2010, when the Edmonton Oilers had to choose between similar-style forwards Taylor Hall and Tyler Seguin. The Avs’ choices are the best defenseman (Seth Jones), best center (Nathan MacKinnon), and best winger (Jonathan Drouin) available.

Some of what we had from McKenzie was cut out of today’s story, a quote after we wrote he still thinks the Avs will take the home-grown Jones, the son of former Denver Nuggets player Popeye Jones. McKenzie made it clear that, if the Avs view Jones/MacKinnon or Jones/Drouin neck-and-neck, you take what you need the most — Jones. But if there’s a gap between No. 1 and No. 2, with Jones being No. 2, you gotta take No. 1.

“If Nathan MacKinnon was clearly the No. 1 guy, with a big gap between him and anyone else in this draft, then you have to take him,” McKenzie said. “If it’s really close, I think you go with the guy that you need the most.”

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.

Chambers covers college and professional hockey for The Denver Post. He has written for the Post since 1994, after dumping his first 9-to-5 office job a couple years out of college. He primarily follows the University of Denver hockey team and helps cover the Avalanche.